In a world consumed by a digital hellscape where corners of misogyny find their way onto the feed of billions, inappropriate AI deepfakes have become yet another threat to women and girls, and it isn’t the last time AI has done such harm.
When Alysa Liu captured the hearts of millions at the 2026 Winter Olympics this past February through her enthusiastic performance and eventual gold medal win, many artists took to their social media to post stunning art of the 20-year-old figure skater.
This ranged from simple sketches to animations depicting her best moves on the ice, showcasing the admiration and love of Liu’s ever-growing fanbase. However, while beautiful art continues to be crafted for the Olympian, more repugnant portrayals of Liu have appeared online.
4Chan, an anonymous image board website, is known for its minimal moderation, which has led to the exposure of extreme and far-right content. With such controversy at hand, 4Chan users have come together to produce several pornographic images of female Olympic athletes.
Along with Liu, Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito, Mikaela Shiffrin and Eileen Gu are among the female athletes who have fallen victim to non-consensual AI-generated deepfakes, according to Cybernews.
In a disturbing article from UN Women, the latest research has shown that deepfake pornography makes up 98% of all deepfake content, in which 99% of those deepfake videos target women. Furthermore, the total number of online deepfakes has increased by 55% in 2023 since 2019.
Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega had an interview with the New York Times in 2024, where she explained why she deleted her X account, stating she had seen “dirty edited content” of herself as a minor.
Fast forward to late 2025, the International Business Times reported that users on X began to prompt the AI chatbot Grok AI to generate sexualized images of women and girls. One of the victims was 14-year-old “Stranger Things” actress Nell Fisher.
Some students who are women expressed concerns about the effect that artificial intelligence has on women’s mental health, as well as their critical thinking.
“I think it has a negative effect on women’s social esteem, how they feel and how they interact with others.” Journalism major Carmen Burnasky, 18, said, “I think it makes them more nervous to put themselves in situations that can benefit them, such as talking to people, and going out because you never know when these people can take advantage of you.”
Although Congress passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act to hinder the creation of deepfakes, such non-consensual content remains persistent. Women have fought hard for equality and protection, but for AI to be yet another hurdle reveals that, unfortunately, there is more work that still needs to be done.
“I don’t mind AI if it’s for Google use, like if you’re doing something to research and ask questions, but doing that to use people’s faces and make weird content of them is disgusting,” creative arts major Yaslin Bazan,18, said on AI’s impactful evolved abilities.
